CIA says extorionists have hacked power grid

Criminals have been able to hack into computer systems via the Internet and cut power to several cities, a US. Central Intelligence Agency analyst last week.

Robert McMillan, IDG News Service
January 21, 2008

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Criminals have been able to hack into computer systems via the Internet and cut power to several cities, a US. Central Intelligence Agency analyst last week.

Speaking at a conference of security professionals, CIA analyst Tom Donahue disclosed the recently declassified attacks while offering little detail of what actually went wrong.

Criminals have launched online attacks that disrupted power equipment in several regions outside of the U.S., he said, without identifying the countries affected. The goal of the attacks was extortion, he said.

"We have information, from multiple regions outside the United States, of cyber intrusions into utilities, followed by extortion demands," he said in a statement posted on the web on Friday by the conference's organisers, the SANS Institute. "In at least one case, the disruption caused a power outage affecting multiple cities. We do not know who executed these attacks or why, but all involved intrusions through the Internet."

"According to Mr. Donahue, the CIA actively and thoroughly considered the benefits and risks of making this information public, and came down on the side of disclosure," SANS said in the statement.

One conference delegate said the disclosure came as news to many of the government and industry security professionals in attendance. "It appeared that there were a lot of people who didn't know this already," said the attendee, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorised to speak with the press.

He confirmed SANS' report of the talk. "There were apparently a couple of incidents where extortionists cut off power to several cities using some sort of attack on the power grid, and it does not appear to be a physical attack," he said.